176 PROCEKDINGS MANCHKSTKR INSTITUTE 



341. Sitta carolinensis L^ath. White-breasted Nut- 

 hatch. 



A permanent resident, of common occurrence throughout the 

 3^ear in the Transition portions of the state and less common in 

 the sub-Canadian areas. Mr. C. J. Maynard found it a com- 

 mon resident at Krrol in 1870. In the White Mountains, I 

 have usually found it in the wooded valley bottoms, and less 

 often in the beech growth on the mountain sides up to 1,500 or 

 2,000 feet. 



342. Sitta canadensis I^inn. Red-breasted Nuthatch. 



A common permanent resident, confined during the breeding 

 season to the Canadian fauna. In summer, this species entirely 

 replaces ^. carolinensis above 3,000 feet on the White Moun- 

 tains, and is commonest from that level up to 4,500 feet in the 

 thick forest of living and dead firs and spruces. In small num- 

 bers, it regularly breeds along the height of land in the western 

 part of the state, and sporadically over the more southern dis- 

 tricts. Mr. C. F. Goodhue ('77a, p. 33) has recorded it as 

 nesting on South Kearsarge ; Mr. Ned Dearborn ('98, p. 33) 

 also notes it as nesting in central New Hampshire, and Mr. G. 

 H. Thayer finds it regularly about Mt. Monadnock. In late 

 summer and fall the birds wander about with the flocks of other 

 small birds and even occur now and then above the upper limit 

 of tree growth on the Presidential range. Thus Dr. A. P. 

 Chadbourne ('87) records one seen on Sept. 2, 1884, running 

 over the bare rocks on the summit of Mt. Clay, and Mr. Brad- 

 ford Torrey has seen them on one or two occasions at this sea- 

 son scrambling about on the roof of the Summit House on Mt. 

 Washington. Most of the birds move down into the valleys and 

 the southern parts of the state during winter. In some seasons 

 they are extremely abundant, and again few are seen. Dr. W. 

 H. Fox writes me that at HoUis, in 1886, they were very abun- 

 dant during late June and all of July. In 1895, they swarmed 

 throughout the White Mountain forests in fall. They were also 

 fairly abundant in 1899 over parts of the state, though in the 



